Eminent Love Read Online Free PDF

first journey.”
    Her enthusiasm was contagious—as well as the permanent grin on her face. “First? As in first of how many?”
    “I don’t know yet.” I stopped myself before I said something else. It was an insane thought, one I’d never had before, but I never wanted this ride to end. I wanted to spend every day with her. Ridiculous, considering I’d met her less than twelve hours ago, but I couldn’t shake the conviction that her fixture in my life wouldn’t be temporary.
    As if my heart had latched onto hers and refused to let go.
    Yet I decided to see how the day went before allowing myself to entertain such a thought.
    “Are we doing them all today?” Her eyes were wide, eyebrows arched high.
    “No. As far as I know, it’s just this one. Depending on how well you like this, we might have to plan others like it. But we’ll have to see.” I took her hand in mine as I drove away. “But this won’t take all day. I thought maybe after the fun and games are over, we could get cleaned up and have dinner. What do you think?”
    She rested her head on the seat behind her and turned her attention to me. “It’s ten in the morning. How long is this supposed to take? I just might be too exhausted come dinnertime.” Every word was filled with light humor, teasing almost. And without even looking at her, I could tell she donned a smile on those lips—the same lips I hadn’t been able to get off my mind and had kept me from getting a good night’s sleep.
    “It won’t take all day. Unless we want it to. It’s totally up to us…more importantly, it’s completely up to you. You’re calling the shots here.”
    Her giggle blanketed me and my nerves immediately vanished. “Yet you won’t even tell me where we’re going. How exactly am I calling the shots?”
    I squeezed her hand and smiled broadly. “You’ll see.”
    The drive wasn’t long, but it afforded us enough time to talk about nothing in particular. I asked her how her night was after she got home, and then she asked me about mine. I wasn’t about to admit I’d stayed up nearly all night because I couldn’t stop thinking about her, so I lied and said I passed out before my head hit the pillow.
    As soon as we pulled into the parking area of Laurel Bluffs, she knew exactly what I had planned. She stared through windshield and asked, “We’re going hiking?”
    My stomach sank faster than a lead weight in a pond. I’d been here once before when I first moved to town, and I thought it would be a beautiful place to take a date. Except I never dated, so in the two years I lived here, I’d only been that one time. The second I realized I wanted to see her again, spend more time with her, it was the first spot I thought to take her. “Like I said, Layne, this is all up to you. We don’t have to go. If you’re not into hiking—”
    “Are you kidding me?” Her eyes widened and her entire face lit up with her smile. She didn’t even give me time to get out of the car and open her door before she made her way toward the entrance of the trail.
    I snatched the pre-packed bag from the back seat and slung it over my shoulder before catching up to her. Thinking about bringing her here had filled me with exhilaration and flooded my mind with thoughts of making memories. It wasn’t until almost three in the morning before I worried she wouldn’t like it. Some girls I’d known in the past would’ve had no interest in hiking a five-mile trail. I began debating it, and even tried coming up with a backup plan. But in the end, at around seven this morning, I decided to go with it and see what happened. In all the scenarios my mind came up with, not one had her so excited, so filled with eagerness. It was infectious, and I found myself instantly calmed.
    I didn’t waste any time before grabbing her hand and leading her down the trail.
    The time went by fast as we walked and talked, learning all kinds of things about each other. She told me about the